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Overview

A friendship between a young Native American and a colonial New England settler endangers them both in this “simply unforgettable” (Booklist, starred review) adventure story from Newbery Medalist Susan Cooper.

On the winter day Little Hawk is sent into the woods alone, he can take only a bow and arrows, his handcrafted tomahawk, and the amazing metal knife his father traded for with the new white settlers. If Little Hawk survives three moons by himself, he will be a man.

John Wakely is only ten when his father dies, but he has already experienced the warmth and friendship of the nearby tribes. Yet his fellow colonists aren’t as accepting of the native people. When he is apprenticed to a barrel-maker, John sees how quickly the relationships between settlers and natives are deteriorating. His friendship with Little Hawk will put both boys in grave danger.

The intertwining stories of Little Hawk and John Wakely are a fascinating tale of friendship and an eye-opening look at the history of our nation. Newbery Medalist Susan Cooper also includes a timeline and an author’s note that discusses the historical context of this important and moving novel.

About the Author

Susan Cooper is one of our foremost children’s authors; her classic five-book fantasy sequence The Dark Is Rising has sold millions of copies worldwide. Her many books have won the Newbery Medal, a Newbery Honor, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and been shortlisted five times for the Carnegie Medal. She combines fantasy with history in Victory (a Washington Post Top Ten for Children novel), King of Shadows and Ghost Hawk, and her magical The Boggart and the Monster, second in a trilogy, won the Scottish Arts Council’s Children’s Book Award. Susan Cooper lives on a saltmarsh island in Massachusetts, and you can visit her online at TheLostLand.com.

Read an Excerpt

Ghost Hawk

ONE

He had left his canoe in the river, tied to a branch of a low-growing cherry tree. Now there was green marshland ahead of him, all round the river’s last slow curve. He pushed his way through waist-high grass toward one of the three high places in the marshland, where trees grew. They were islands of trees, never visited; the duck hunters went only to the marsh. He had chosen this place months ago, and now was the day to come back.

In a squawking flurry two ducks erupted ahead of him, flying low, but his bow stayed on his back; he would not hunt till later, on the way home. He reached the trees—a tangle of pin oak and cherry, sumac and hickory, juniper and birch—and threaded his way through the grabbing branches to the two rocks that marked the tree he had chosen. There it still was, beside the rocks, still the proper shape: the small bitternut hickory tree with its twin leading stems growing in a slender V.

He gave the tree a respectful greeting, and explained what he was about to do.

The woven birch-bark pouch was heavy round his neck. He took out the stone blade, a long, notched rectangle of flint with one edge chipped to a fine sharpness. This blade had belonged to the tomahawk used by his father and his grandfather, until its handle broke; nobody knew where it had come from or when it was made. It was very precious to him.

Carefully he fitted the blade into the cleft between the tree’s two slim branches, twisting them together above it. Then, with tough strands of deer sinew from his pouch, he bound the joined branches tightly above the stone—so tightly that they would grow together as the years went by, enclosing the blade.

To make a tomahawk for your son, you needed the stone blade, and the wooden shaft, and time.

In my father’s day, there was still time.

When he’d finished his binding, he thanked the small tree, and gave it good wishes to grow straight and strong.

Then he went back across the marshland to his canoe. On the way he shot three ducks, for the feast celebrating the arrival of the baby son who had been born early that day.

I was that son. Because Flying Hawk was my father, the name they were giving me was Little Hawk.

Editorial Reviews

09/01/2013Gr 6–9—Cooper takes a departure from her well-known fantasies to present a thoughtful historical fantasy. The story begins around 1620, when Little Hawk is nearing proving time to become a man in his Wampanoag tribe. One winter's morning, he is sent out into the woods alone, armed only with a bow and arrows, a tomahawk, and a knife. He must try to survive for three moons before returning to his family. When he does, he is devastated to find that everyone except his grandmother has died of smallpox. He, along with his grandmother and one of his friends, finds shelter with another tribe, and as they settle in he has his first encounter with local Pilgrims. Little Hawk begins a friendship with a white boy named John Wakely that will change both of their lives forever. After Little Hawk is killed, his ghost helps John navigate their different cultures and language, while the world around them changes and tensions between the Natives and the settlers grow. While this is a beautifully written story, it is a bit slow-moving and not wholly accessible to its target audience. Little Hawk and John begin the story as children, but they eventually grow up, and the book spans approximately 50 years, even touching into modern times. Young readers may have difficulty following all of the history.—Necia Blundy, formerly at Marlborough Public Library, MA

School Library Journal

In this well-researched and elegant historical fantasy, a Wampanoag boy named Little Hawk survives the loss of his village to a plague contracted from the Pilgrims, who have recently founded Plymouth. Later he befriends a white boy, John Wakeley, only to have a shocking act of violence irrevocably alter their lives. As the years pass, John grows to manhood, learns a trade, marries, and avoids the Pilgrims’ bigotry, drawn to the more tolerant principles of Roger Williams, founder of the colony of Providence. Despite its occasional violence, much of veteran fantasist Cooper’s story is understated, devoted to what is essentially philosophical discussion and a vivid depiction of the Massachusetts wilderness. Although the tale unfolds almost entirely in English, Cooper impressively conveys the barriers, both cultural and linguistic, that divided natives and settlers, sometimes with horrifying results. Both Little Hawk and John maintain their essential decency in the face of the world’s injustice, while Cooper demonstrates, as Little Hawk says, “Change is made by the voice of one person at a time.” Ages 10–14. Agent: Rubin Pfeffer, East West Literary Agency. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Ghost Hawk is a treasure.... Beautifully written, vivid with its manifest love for the land, it is a story of suffering and survival, both tragic and heroic."

Karen Cushman

* "Cooper has written a richly plotted, lyrical, and near-epic novel...this is simply an unforgettable reading experience."

starred review Booklist

"Cooper here demonstrates that there’s plenty of magic left in her pen, delivering a powerful and memorable novel."

The Horn Book

"Rich period detail makes for an immersive experience."

BCCB

Ghost Hawk is the work of a writer with great imaginative power and long-practiced narrative skill. I was swept up in the story, shocked, moved, and enthralled - and completely convinced by the historical background. I haven't read anything better for a long time."

Philip Pullman

"Susan Cooper has asked the ghosts of our shared history to sing. And when she asks, they always do."

William Alexander

A white boy and a Native American youth form an enduring bond in this historical fantasy set in 17th-century Massachusetts. Eleven-year-old Little Hawk survives the Pokanoket tribe's "proving time" alone in the winter woods for three months only to discover his village devastated by a plague transmitted by encroaching white settlers. Later, Little Hawk's killed by a paranoid white settler while trying to help the injured father of a white boy named John Wakeley. Upset by the injustice of Little Hawk's murder, John's sent by his stern Puritan stepfather on a seven-year apprenticeship north of Plymouth. Here, John encounters Little Hawk's ghost, who becomes his confidant and friend. Gradually, John becomes an outspoken advocate for native people, challenging the bigoted, intolerant Puritans and eventually joining separatist Roger Williams in Providence Plantation. Narrator Little Hawk describes his brief life as a Pokanoket youth and continues as ghost observer with the story of John Wakeley and the increasing unrest between settlers and local tribes. Cooper's thorough historical research provides authentic period detail, contrasting the attitudes and lifestyles of settlers and native people. This sensitive portrayal of an unusual friendship poignantly reveals how greed and intolerance led to Native American displacement in colonial Massachusetts. (map, timeline, author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

When Little Hawk came back from his hunt, he found all the people in his village dead. He went to his home and found his grandmother there, Suncatcher, barely alive. Soon Leaping Turtle, a friend also on a hunt, came back home to. They were the only people left alive. They survived for a couple of days, regaining their health, before they left to a neighboring village. They found out that the white men came and brought a deadly disease and it killed tons of people in their villages. At the village, they found Quickbird, Little Hawk&rsquo;s little sister. She was delighted that they were alive and thought that they were dead. After a few days, some white men came to learn the way to fish properly. There was also a little boy named John that liked to play with the Indian kids and Little Hawk. As they left, Little Hawk and John formed a forever friendship. After many years, Little Hawk met John again when Little Hawk and Leaping Turtle were running a message to Yellow Feather, the sachem of the tribes. Little Hawk went to go help the screaming John get his father out of a fallen tree. Two men in the background thought that Little Hawk was attacking the little boy, so they shot at Little Hawk and nailed him in the heart. Little Hawk was no more and John was sheading more tears than ever over the lost of Little Hawk. Little Hawk became a spirit. After a decade of years, John went to be an apprentice. He was going to learn how to make barrels. One day, at dawn, he saw Little Hawk as a spirit and talked to him. They never forgot each other, especially when the tension between the white men and Indians grew to a point when they were about to have war. I liked this book because I have always liked Indian stories and mystery. I really liked it when Little Hawk went to save John&rsquo;s father and there was suspense in the air. I&rsquo;ve learned that you can&rsquo;t ever have a better gift than friendship. I also learned that friendship is an ever bond with someone. I would recommend this book to people who like murder, mystery, or who likes Indian stories.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

This book starts and ends good but parts of the middle are boring but overall you should read it.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Great book

nizhoni88

More than 1 year ago

I love this story, it is a history of the first English contact with the woodland Native American Indians in the east coast. What it must have been like with all the beautiful land and the start of the changing of life for them. Ghost Hawk and John were good friends to the very end. Highly recommended for every one to read.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

I am not a History or Historical Fiction person but this book grabs you right from the beginning. Can't wait to read it for a second time.

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Xdfdrdn

Anonymous

More than 1 year ago

Name: 0.0---Age: 26 moons---Gender: Male---Looks: Tabby fur and a long tail. He has one amber eye and one bright blue one. The bright blue one is blind and he has a large scar running the legnth of his face theough the eye. If you were to look at his good side only, he looks normal---Rank: Warrior---Clan: Sunclan---Former Mentor: Was not active---App: None---Skills: Fighting and hunting---Powers: Can see starclan cats with his bad eye, used to be able to fly---Weaknesses: His bad eye and his back---Family: Grandmother: Rockstar---Grandfather: Unknown---Father: Strongstrike---Mother: Dawnlight---Siblings: Don't rp anymore, so not relevant---Crush: Tigernight---Mate: Tigernight---Kits: None yet---History: Really long.---Personality: meet me---Theme Song: Jurassic Park Suite by John Williams

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